Equator monument isn't actually situated on the equator

Officials have admitted that Ecuador's Middle of the World theme park, which attracts over half a million visitors each year, isn't actually located exactly on the Equator.

The development of GPS technology has revealed that the latitude of the yellow line, which is supposed to mark the middle of the earth, is not at 0 degrees, 0 minutes, 0 seconds. Instead, the line is situated 240 metres north of the Equator.

The Daily Mail reports that park administrator Ramiro Ponton believes that this is because measuring methods used in 1936, when the original monument was built, were not as accurate as they are today.

However, another park administrator, Luis Pulgar, told the New York Times that builders who constructed the current monument in 1979 knew that it was in the wrong place - but it was impossible to build it on the Equator, which crosses a ravine.

The Telegraph reports that the actual Equator is marked in the correct position at a small, privately-owned site called Inti-nan. There is a sign on a gate confirming that it is at exactly zero degrees latitude, calculated by GPS.

The Middle of the Earth park now plans to build a new monument that will stand in the correct position.